Businessweek Archives

Gainers From Capital Gains

April 16, 1995

Economic Trends

GAINERS FROM CAPITAL GAINS

Who will benefit most from a capital-gains tax cut? If you said the wealthy, you're on target. Based on an analysis of tax data for 1990-92 by the Tax Foundation, taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes above $500,000 a year coughed up 42.3% of the $31.7 billion average annual capital-gains tax burden in those years. Those with incomes of $100,000 to $500,000 supplied nearly a third of capital-gains taxes, and those earning under $100,000, around 26%.

Although they filed only a tiny fraction of taxable returns (0.002%), over 60% of taxpayers with adjusted gross incomes exceeding $500,000 paid capital-gains taxes, as did over a third of the 3.7% of taxpayers with incomes between $100,000 and $500,000. By contrast, capital-gains taxes were levied on only one out of seven of the 17% of taxpayers with incomes between $50,000 and $100,000 and only 5.9% of the nearly 80% of filers with adjusted incomes under $50,000.BY GENE KORETZ